Under French Skies

Caudron CR.714 belonging to GC I/145 after suffering a forced landing, May 1940. Photograph courtesy of T.J. Kowalski, Godlo i Barwa w Lotnictwie Polskim, WKL 1987.

   The area of operations that the GC I/145 was assigned to was the Zones d'Operations Armees des Alpes (Z.O.A.A., Air Operations Area of the Alps). By the end of April 1940 the squadron had received twenty MS.406 fighters and was ready to fight.
   On 10 May 1940, Bron was bombed by the Luftwaffe. The French observation "web" did not receive a signal that German planes were approaching. As a result of the German attack, ten mechanics and one cadet pilot were killed by bombs. Later the same day, GC I/145 was ordered to change its aerodrome and proceeded to Mions, which is also near Lyon. The pilots of GC I/145 scrambled six times while at Mions.
   At this time it might have been the last flight of GC I/145 during the French campaign. Because of a lack of suitably trained replacement pilots, the French authorities wanted to disband the Polish unit to be dispersed among the Armee de L'Air regular fighter units. By 15 May, France was so desparate for fighter pilots that they wanted to transfer the Polish pilots to Groupes de Chasses in the front lines. The Polish authorities in Paris, and the Polish pilots of GC I/145, did not agree with the French decision and argued successfully for the unit to fight together.
   As a result of this French and Polish authority conflict, the GC I/145 soon found itself with a transfer to another aerodrome and a new fighter. The Caudron "Cyclone" started arriving at the unit, this in spite of the fact that only forty-four examples of this fighter type had been delivered to the Armee de L'Air by the end of April.
   The GC I/145 new mission was to be point defense in the Paris area, being assigned to the Zones d'Operations Armees de l'Est (Z.O.A.E., Air Operations Area of the East). On 18 May, the squadron changed aerodromes, moving to Villacoublay near Paris. While attached to the Z.O.A.E., the GC I/145 was attached to the Pursuit Grouping 21 (GC. 21) under the French General Romatet.
   Despite the importance of the mission that GC I/145 was supposed to perform, there was not a radio set available at Villacoublay that permitted direct communication from the ground. The problem was that the unit's leaders who were on the ground could not communicate with the pilots The unit's adminstrative and headquarters staff could not give the take-off or scramble orders, nor change existing orders when the pilots were in the air. This situation also meant that the unit's pilots could not communicate with their leaders. A solution was only possibly due to the assistance of the French GC I/4 which was also staying at this same aerodrome. When the Polish unit needed ground control radio they could only use the radio which belonged to the French squadron.

   The author Grzegorz Slizewski can be reached at his e-mail address.